Saturday Film Club: Dortmund university monorail

Why does a univeristy need a monorail? Who cares, it's cool!

Cav'ndish brass tension locks

 

Here's a new, vintage, product to me. A bag of what I think are stamped (not etched) brass, tension lock couplings. 

The mounts suggest 1960's or 70s Hornby replacements, but smaller than the Margate originals. 

Assembly is required. Pop the hook assembly into the main part, and push a plastic pivot into place. Ideally, these would be chemically blackend before putting things toghether. A dip in Gun Blue would do the job, if chemicals aimed at modellers weren't available. 

Also, why did Cavendish, stick an apostophe in the middle of thier name?

Pug chassis mystery - solved

Back in 2015, I blogged about a mystery chassis for the classic Airfix "Pug" locomotive. At the time, it was a bit of a mystery. 

The mystery is solved, thanks to eBay. It's a Simplas chsssis. 

Currently, yours for £24.99. And no, I don't plan to buy it. I'm tempted, but NO!

Weidly, there was a built up example on too, but I can't find a link for this one. Presumably it sold, so there is a market for weird old model railway products. Good news for me if I ever decide to dispose of some. I might be able to buy a pizza...

Credit to James Finister who worked it out in the comments of the original post.

Brewing up watered-down PVA

 

My jar of watered-down PVA is nearly empty, so it's time to brew up a new batch. The recipie for this most useful of modelling mediums is simple. 

Mix equal parts of PVA glue (woodwork version prefered, not the shiny stuff for kids) and warm water. Add in a couple of drops of washing up liquid, to reduce the surface tension, and give it a good stirr. 

And then, my little trick, leave it alone for at least a day. This seems to ensure the stuff mixes properly, and you don't end up with too many lumps of neat PVA when spreading it around. 

I know there are more modern glues, and some use rubbing alcohol to reduce the surface tension, but this works for me, and I love the simplicy. 

Hornby Ford Sierra

 

The Ford Sierra is a problem car for me. Like the Class 58 diesel that arrived about the same time, I am old enough to see the first ones on the road. At the time the "jelly mould" design was controversial, even if it was logical to anyone who knew of wind tunnels. 

And now, when was the last time you saw either? 

I am old enough to have had an entire car range, and class of locomotives, arrive and depart in my lifetime.This really makes me feel ancient. 

Anyway, this car appeared at about the same time as the real thing. The Class 58 beat the real locomotive to the shops. 

It's a bit boxy, but recognisable. I wonder if they licensed the shape with Ford? Presunably they did as R271, containing three cars, is titled "Hornby R271 Ford Sierra Cars". BAck in the 1980s, and for a good few years later, this, and the Tri-ang cars, were pretty much all us modellers had to populate our roads! At least the Sierra was "modern image" in car terms. 

Anyway, this one cost me 50p. A bargain I think. Who knows, maybe I'll build an 1980s layout for it one day?

Sailing into Model Boats magazine

 

I've not done this for a while - appeared in Model Boats magazine!

The subject of my review is the Heng Long ready-to-sail tugboat that I bought from P&S Hobbies at Easter. Maybe it needs a little assembly, but not much and nothing technical, so it is RTR. 

You'll have to read the article for the full details, but suffice to say I have sailed this little model a lot sinve I bought it, and really enjoyed the experience. As a way to get someone into the hobby, it's perfect. Not too expensive and yet offering proper radio control. Not too large either, it's been down the lake in my rucksack a few time, although it now has a proper box for both boat and controller. 

Playing trains in Bournville

 

The weather looked mixed, but a group of us decended on Andy Christie's 45mm gauge railway to play trains and entertain the visitors to his Open Garden. 

The line itself has expanded since I last visited, a couple of years ago. There's a lengthy continuous run, rather than a U shape, so we could let the locos do their thing - often with three trains following each other around. 

I'd taken along the Peckett and Ragleth. One is very pretty, and the other has radio control, which turned out to be very handy on congested tracks. 

Sadly, thanks to some buffer-locking, the Peckett took a tumble, resulting in a little chipped paint. Nothing terminal, and she was running again later in the day. 

I also had the chance to try a live steam Accucraft 'Mannin' (and see the 'Peveril' above) which was interesting. My IOM locos are electric, partly because I wasn't convinced I'd enjoy steam versions. As it was, this one was interesting to run, those big wheels mean she rattles along at a fair old rate. 

Obvioulsy there was cake, and very nice it was too. As you can tell from the photo, there was also rain. For about 40 minutes, it hammered down - not ideal when you have a loco in steam! After the shower, I restarted running with my IP Engineering railcar. Not the best run as the rails were greasy, and wet plants hang down more, getting in the way!

When the sun was out though, it was a fantastic time and much appreciated by those visitors there to see the garden.

Saturday Film Club: Modelling a hill

Another of my old BRM videos has been released into the wild, so I can bring it to you here. From 2017, I attack some expanded polystyrene to make a bit of scenery.

Review: Dapol Hawthorn Leslie locomotive

 

A recent purchase. As it turns out, I bought the wrong loco, but we'll come to that in a minute...

The range of small RTR shunters is amazing to those of us who grew up knowing that the only way to find something for our small, dockside layouts, was to dig out the soldering iron, and tackle a kit. Now, for not much more than that kit would have cost me in the 1990s, I get this. 

This little loco looks fantastic. Nicely detailed, and well decorated. It runs very smoothly too. 

With a large selection of colours to choose from, the only criteria was that I didn't want an NCB blue loco, as that would limit its use. Instead, I picked the nicest name, "Wallaby". I know nothing of the actual loco, although there is a bit online here. It seems that my choice was shipped off to Australia, where she still resides, stuffed and mounted. Photos show clock hands rather than a wheel on the smokebox door, but this could have been a later change, and I'm not really worried. 

For detail fans, a set of plastic 3-link couplings, and a detailed set of name and works plates is included in the bag. What isn't is something to fill the hole in the bufferbeam if you ditch the tension lock couplings. Unless you buy the wasp stripe version. I can use Plastikard, but why not all the models? 

It sits nicely with the gold standard of shunters, the Hornby Peckett, and shows that small shunting layouts are open to all people. Mildly anoying to those of us who have a collection of kits, but that's the way things go. Time to move on to some O16.5 or 009. Oh, hold on...

My verdict, based on a cursory check (buy the BRM review for much more detail) is that I am happy. The price was a smidge over £100, pretty good for modern locos. I undertand that you pay more if the evil DCC is fitted, but that's your problem. 

And why is this the wrong loco? 

Well, back in the old days, I rather fancied one of the Crownline Models last kits, which I thought was this loco. In fact this is the reason I bought it. However, I'm wrong. The Crownline kit was BR/MR Kitson Saddle tank, not a Hawthorn Leslie. If I want a Kitson, then it's off to Judith Edge kits now...

Car Review: Ford Tourneo for railway modellers

 

Since I had the chance to drive a Ford Tourneo last week, perhaps it's time for a quick review, from the point of view of raiolway modellers. At the very least, it may attract a bit of extra traffic to these pages. 

 Caveat: I love Citroen Berlingo. Ideally, the Mk2 version, after that, the legroom in the front got a little short of my comfort. I also think the Mk2 is best looking, and it's a terrific nippy little motor with wonderful, big wing mirrors.

The front: Fitted with a diesel engine, it seems a little under-powered. I'm not a fast driver by any means, but there's not a lot of low-down grunt. It's quite easy to stall at slow speeds, you need to keep the revs up. That said, the engine isn't stupidly noisy, does Liverpool and back on less than £30 of diesel. An hour of slow running on the M6 won't have helped this either. Obviously, there is no issue with 70mph, by which time you've got it in 6th gear and it bowls along.

The middle: A first for me, I had to slide the drivers seat forward slightly! And when in position, I could have worn a top hat happily, as there is so much headroom. In fact, space is the main story with this car, loads of it. OK, it's a bigger beast than the Berlingo, but fits in a parking space. 

The controls are OK. Setting the speed limited was a little bit of a faff, it knows the speed but can't automatically be set to it, but I hadn't read the instruction book, so there probably is a better way. There are plenty of actual knobs to twiddle, and buttons to push, none of that touch screen nonsence. 

Instruments are clear. You can have your speed in both traditional swinging needle form, or in numbers. These appear on a screen in the middle of the dash, and the screen is used for other jobs, which is a little anoying. Vision around the car is wonderful, all that glass ensures you can see what's around. 

The hire version is possibly a little light on toys. No reversing camera, electronic handbrake, or front parking sensors. The wing mirrors are a bit smaller than the Berlingo, but adequate. 

The back: This is the best bit. There are seats, but when shifting layouts (or loco side tanks) around, these can be folded out of the way. I couldn't see a way to remove them entirely like you can with a Berlingo, and the guy at the hire place didn't look like he appreciated my examination and talk of spanners. 

Width between the rear arches is very nearly four feet. If I owned one of these, I'd seriously consider building baseboards to fit it. As it was, the tank fitted with loads of space to spare. There's plenty of height too if your boards are paired up and have tall backscenes, it won't be an issue. 

Generally, this is a nice car. Better than a Berlongo? Possibly not, but it's a close run thing. OK, it's a bit light on charisma, but as a load lugger for people who actually do things, it's a good choice. 

Repatriating Sea Lion's tank

 

Last Friday, I took a trip to Liverpool, and in the car park of a Costa drive-through, swapped some heavy good from one car to mine. .

The car in question belonged to Graeme, who was coming to my rescue. 

Back in 2018, I bought some bits of the best little steam engine in the world, Sea Lion on the Groudle Glen Railway. 

The tank and cab back lived for years in the Port Erin railway museum, where I visited them a couple of times. 

All was fine, until the Manx Steam Railway Supporters club took over responsibility for the museum displays. When I read this, I contacted them about the Sea Lion parts, and discovered they had been removed to Port St Mary good shed. I was assured they were safe, but dear reader, I wasn't convinced. 

The parts have been replaced in the museum by an old lathe. 

Anyway, a bit of time spent on a van hire website, and the Steam Packet one was an eye-opener. Van hire isn't difficult, although I hadn't checked if the IOM counts as "abroad". The Packet though, won't actually give you a price for taking a van over. You just have to click a link marked "You're buying us a new boat" or something. Cheap it won't be. 

Would the parts fit in my car? Measurements from a plan of the loco suggested that the answer was "maybe" for the tank and "no" for the cab back. Hmmm. 

Anyway, I explained my dilema on a IOM Steam Railway chat group, and after a few suggestions of "man with van" people, which also looked understandably horrific price-wise, Graeme offered to collect the bits in his can and bring them over, as he had a meeting in Liverpool. 

So, I took the day off work, booked and van, and crossed my fingers. 

The Sunday before, he went to collect the parts, and the cab back wouldn't quite fit in the car. The tank would, and best of all, he sent me a photo to show it was OK. I agreed that we'd sort the tank and worry about the cab back another day. If I'm honest, the tank is the jewel in this collection - it has the name painted on. Had this been badly damaged, I'd have called the whole thing off, bit it's perfect. 

Just to make things even more entertaining, the day before the trip, Enterprise rang me to say I'd been allocated an electric van. Now, I'd love to have a go in one of these, but the range is a bit less than one-way to Liverpool, and I needed to do this quickly in order to complete in a day so I wasn't in for two days hire. A bit of grumbling, and the suggestion that a large estate car would work saw me given a bright read Ford Tourneo, and me having a sleepless night wondering if the tank really would go in the back. I'd remeasured the plan, and thought I would be OK, but you can't be certain. 

At the Costa, we moved the tank over to my the Tourneo, and it fitted. 

In fact, it would almost have fitted across the back. 

So, after wrapping it up, a slow drive down the M6, and a bit of help from a mate to extract it from the car, Sea Lion's side tank resides in my storage. Safe and sound. 

What next? 

Well, for the minute it can stay where it is. Long term, I'm wondering if a loan to Amberley Chalk Pits museum would be the best bet. They have a nicely laid out railway museum where it could live, and most importantly, Sea Lion's sister loco, Polar Bear. 

And the cab back? That's still work in progress. I'd be happy for it to hang on a pub wall, but if required, and we can find a van coming over to Liverpool, then another van hire and trip north beckons. 

Lots of people are owed thanks for making this work. Graeme for collecting a heavy lump and transporting it over the hardest, and wetest, bit of the journey. He admitted he was glad that customs hadn't come poking around as the tank was well wrapped in towels and bungie corded down!

Also, Tim for the lift at the other end, and all those on the chat group who helped with suggestions. Railway people are nice people. They appreicate and help each other. Now it's time for me to think about how I can pay my assistance forward...

Note: The tank has been repatriated, and it's English, not Manx. These parts were build by British Nuclear Feuls apprentices, when they restored the loco.

Where have we been? Adventures in old exhibition programmes

 

My Dad is currently writing a history of the Leamington & Warwick MRS. To this end, he's been digging back through the old exhibition programmes for the club show. He's also including history of some of the better known layouts produced by members: Scotland Street Yard, Huntingfield, Macduff, Walford Town, Grafton, and Melbridge Dock, among others. 

This has provided me with a great opportunity to pass over my files of old programmes from shows we appeared at with a layout, to get them sorted out into a proper folder. While it's not something we'll refer to a lot, it's nice to know that they are there as a souvenier of many miles on the road, and lots and lots of chatting.

Stop buttons

 

According to a young freind, "haul videos" are the latest thing on YouTube. People record themselves digging through bags of shopping. Why anyone would want to watch someone unpacking their Morrison's order, I don't know, but then I'm too old to properly understand these things. 

However, ever keen to be with the zeitgeist, but too lazy to make a video, here is my "haul" from the buss event. A pair of Stop buttons normally found on poles dotted around the inside of the bus. 

Cost, a fiver each. Somewhat cheaper than the round "Press Once" buttons from London Transport. These are now £30+ each, a lot more than I paid for mine many years ago. I always had the hope I'd own a house and could use it as a doorbell. Hasn't happened, and I doubt I could find it now anyway. Lovely item though. Just nice and tactile to push.

Anyway, the Stop buttons seemed like a good investment. Designed for a lot of use, they could be fun attached to the front of a model that animates when the button is pressed. I'm sure I could buy a proper button for this, but these are more fun, and I doubt any more expensive.

Gaydon Busfest 2024

A free Saturday afternoon, and my ticket to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon still valid, what better way to spend some time that nerding over vintage buses? 

 

 

An excellent afternoon with fantastic ice cream, and plenty of bus action. I managed a couple of rides, the last on the Motorway Express above. Incredibly comfortable seats. I nearly dozed off a couple of times. 

 

There are more photos on Flickr. 

Saturday Film Club: Wires and the Very Difficult World of Special Effects Models and Puppet Heroes

Working with puppets and miniature effects can be difficult... very difficult! Here the crew from AP Films reveal the behind the scenes stories of the bloopers and outtakes that plagued their productions while Gerry Anderson recalls the effort put into getting Supercar to fly. The real story of how they 'Filmed in Supermarionation'

Pubs and pump houses in BRM

 

Take one Hornby TT:120 pub, straight from the box, and detail it to prove that ready-to-plonk buildings can be personalised with just a little imagination, and some modelling skill, especially scratchbuilding wheelie bins!

If you prefer kit-building, this month's 4-step project is an ugly, but useful, pump house. 

My camera has been out again, and pointed at: 

Cefn bryn Carreg in 009. 

Llandafal in OO. 

 

 

Riddle to Old Town in N. 

 

 

On BRMTV, I'm demonstraiting the use of sponges for railway modellers. 

All of this in the August 2024 issue of BRM magazine.

Feldbahn railways in Garden Rail magazine

 

Can you have a garden railway if you don't have a garden? Werner Hänsch lives in a Dresden apartment, and his fascinating line is built around a balcony using German field railway rolling stock, perfect for the space-starved modeller.

On the workbench this month:

• Building a round Toll House
• Laying track flush with a concrete path
• Building a Talyllyn Railway viaduct
• Turning an LGB 'Toy Train' loco into a realistic Kerr Stuart
• Recomissioning a Gauge 3 steam engine
• Build a simple locomotive cradle

Plus all the latest Product News for the large-scale modeller.

Warehouse Wednesday: Crusty garage

I don't care what my satnav says, this is not the Evesham rowing club, where I was due to see author Mike Gayle giving a talk. 

It's actually the back of a disused garage, and I love the crumbling doors, and general state of disrepair. Very modelable. 

It turns out the rowing club is further down the road, I did make it in time!

The Wardrobe on wheels is finished

 

The HGLW kit for a Wittenberg Schafer loco is complete, and I've really enjoyed building it. As you'll see, I have picked an ugly livery for this less than beautiful loco - all the brightly coloured versions I've seen look a bit too VW campervan to me. This is an industrial machine after all. 

A full build will appear in September's issue of Garden Rail, out on on the 8th August.

Loco driver

 

 

My loco needs a driver, and digging through my stash of large scale bits, I found this Model Earth Design "Shorter Staff" figure. Cast in resin, from a master by Chris Johnson, it's supplied in two parts - torso and head. 

Painting is simple enough with enamels, followed by a wash of Agrax Earthshade to add some shadows. The effect is over-emphasised in the photo, but it looks great. I even painted the cap in a check pattern, although you can't see it from this angle. 

Since I prefer my large-scale people to be caractures, rather than scale models, this little man is ideal for the job, and was a pleasure to paint.

Spotless Water

 

A question for the live steam fans - have you tried Spotless Water in your boilers? 

Recomended to me by one of our boat club members, who is a proper engineer, so should have half an idea about this stuff, the water is ultra filtered to remove all Total Dissolvable Solids. It's not distilled, or deionised, the later being notorious for eating loco fittings. 

Out of curiosity, I picked up four pints of the stuff, for a grand total of 13p - that's the pay-as-you-go price, and will drop when I get my dongle, allowing them to bill me directly. I'll try it at a nearby steaming session. 

To date, I've been using water from our tumble drier, filtering it to remove any traces of fluff, but I'm never convinced I get everything. There's no fluf to be seen, but you can't see tiny fibres. I'm happy to pay for piece of mind.

Saturday Film Club: Building a Cat-Sized Lego Train

The title says it all - although not how difficult it is to wrangle cats!

A cup of tea, with LGB

 

My Mum collects china trios - that is a cup, saucer and side plate. She has quite a few, usually from Shelley, and other well-recognised makers. 

However, when my Dad and I spotted this trip with the LGB logo on it at Llangollen show, we felt it really should find its way into her display cabinet. Not quite what she was expecting, but since I've never seen another, it must be awfully rare and exotic!

Into the guts of a Bachmann Streetcar

Time for a bit of a clearout. Back in February, I bought a job lot of garden scale "stuff", and most of it needs to find new homes. 

One such item is this G scale Bachmann tramcar (street car for US readers). On the track, the lights come on, but nothing moves. Time for some investigation. 

Flipping the model over, and undoing four chunky cross head screws, removes the chassis. 

With this off, it's time to undo six more to drop the keeper plate off the bottom. 

 

It's all nicely chunky in here.I hadn't expected a double reduction drive either. 

Sadly, putting power directly into the sides of the motor, doesn't make it operate. I've checked the continuity, so power is getting around the model, so I can only assume a dead motor. 

If I didn't already have one of these, I'd find a new motor, and spend 20 minutes swapping it over, as it is, the model is listed on eBay to find it a new home.

Warehouse Wednesday - King's Lynn quayside

The last couple of photos from my trip to King's Lynn, this time shots on the quayside. Sadly, my online research has failed to find out much about these very modelable buildings, but I'm in rush tonight, so if anyone can dig anything out, stick it in the comments. 

As a model they have the benefit of bing quite small, and providing a lot of variety in designs. Stick some tracks in front of them, and you have the basis for a nice looking micro layout. Plenty of modelling would be required to do them justice of course.

The custom house id described as "An elegant classical building designed by Henry Bell. Built in 1683 and opened as a merchants exchange in 1685." and is the sort of building any quayside model coupld accomodate. It would make a different scratchbuilding project, perhaps using the Superquick Market Square house as a basis? 

Wittenberg Schafer Loco, body beautiful?

 

I think this loco is really attractive, in an ugly sort of way. Always particial to the more "unusual" prototypes, it was always going to feature on my rolling stock wishlist. My freind Andy thinks it looks like a wardrobe on wheels, but I'll ignore him. 

The body is a simple to assemble MDF item. The only tricky area is the roof, the wood for this needs to pre-curved and the piece in the kit proved stubborn, so I substituted it with a spare bit from our stock. Same thinkness, but much more flexible. 

How did I form the wood? In a set of metal rollers!

I don't understand why, but this technique works pretty well. Every so often there is a cracking noise from the wood, but it survives, and keeps the bend. I'm going to need to tidy the background up before using that photo in print though.

HGLW Wittenberg Schafer Loco - chassis

 

When a blog project morphs into a magazine one...

I've had a Houstoun Gate Locomotive Works kit for the Wittenberg Schafer Loco sitting on the shelf for a few years. Looking for a fun blog project that didn't involve soldering in the heat of the summer, I dragged it to the workbench and started building. 

Then someone dropped out of September's Garden Rail, and I realised that this would fill the space very nicely. Of course, that limits its use on the blog, but I can provide a few tasters, the full step-by-step build (complete with cock-ups) appearing in the magazine. 

Starting with the chassis, this is far more impressive than I had expected. the steel wheels and axles run in proper metal bearings. A pulley and rubber band system give the model four-wheel drive, which should make it very handy for the next "Layout in a day". Those wheels also provide plenty of low-down weight which I hope will help with the wobbly plastic track.

Garden Railway Specialists open day 2024

A couple of days last week were spent at GRS's annual open day. Aimed mainly at LGB enthusiasts, we were joined by Sinisa Stanisic from the firm, who helpfully gave a short talk on his role and the company history. After that, he was around all the time to chat to those there, and answer all their questions. I've also interviewed him for September's Garden Rail so you don't miss out.

At the front of the shop, there were two circuits, one pure LGB and the other for people who wanted to learn how to steam a loco, an opportunity several took up. It also provided entertainment for some passers by, including a couple who live-streamed it to friends in the USA. 

The LGB circuit was operated using their CS3 DCC system, and on Sunday, I sneaked in and had a go with it. There is a large touch-screen with plenty of icons, and even without tuition, I managed to make a train move. OK, it the slowly crashed into another train because I couldn't see the emergency stop button, but at least I made it move, and worked the points. By the time Andy got back to the stand to see what chaos I was causing, I'd got the basics mastered. 

He then showed me a few more menus, how to change locos etc. and it all seemed reaonably simple. I was also impressed that one of the sounds in his diesel was an ice cream van...

Foodwise, there was cake. GRS are always very generous when it comes to the catering. Even more exciting though, buckets of Markin jelly steam engines. We all ate several of those!

Saturday Film Club: The last run of a narrow gauge diesel locomotive in industrial service in a British factory.

From the Facebook post that alerted me: 

It's at Painter Bros. Hereford and shows Lister Railtruck 40407/1954 in 2011 when I bought this, and the other Lister 54181/1964, which had already been lifted off the track by the overhead gantry crane. To the best of my knowledge the title of this video is correct. There are a tiny number of other British industrial locations which still have narrow gauge tracks, an even tinier number with locomotive haulage, and preserved locomotives have operated on industrial lines. But I don't know of any other locations in the British isles where a narrow gauge diesel locomotive has run in a factory in industrial service after the day I shot this video. Immediately after the last frame of this video the crane lifted 40407 off the rails and an era ended. At 1:30 you can see one of its successors, a battery electric machine.

Tri-ang "Push and Go" steam engine

 

What can I get my Dad for father's day? That's the question every year, and in 2024, I spotted just the thing - a Tri-ang "Push and Go" steam engine. 

It wasn't something he had expressed a wish for, but for a tenner, it would be a bit of fun, and could then find its way into the Tri-ang Collection.

Finding out more about the railway "Push and Go" range is tricky. There's loads on the road vehicles, but little on the trains. Digging around on the web, I can't find a clear picture of this loco, but there is an American (early Transcontinental?) diesel called "The Diesel Flyer", which could be had with a couple of coaches. For European markets, the same set, but with a German diesel. 

Some excellent photos of the range here. 

You could also have a small (0-4-0) tank enigne with three  trucks, and a old-fashioned single-wheeler. 

This model isn't perfect. One of the wheels is broken, but at least it's reasonably straight. The diesels seem to suffer from distortion, ending up distinctly banana-shaped. 

I love the way the smokebox door is decorated with a wonky transfer. Why did they make it in black, for a red loco? 

And yes, the mechanism does work, but not very well. Rev it up and there's lots of nois, but not much motion!

My Dad was delighted with his present, understanding the spirit in which is given, and having a good laugh about it. Who doesn't want a toy train, and it's better than socks!